Salman Khan’s father Salim joins Twitter, says salaam to RSS chief

Salim Khan, Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s father, joined Twitter on Tuesday. He congratulated RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and said Bharat Mata ki Jai.

If Salman Khan is the impetuous Bollywood star, father Salim Khan is his politically correct compass. There are enough examples in which Salman made a statement, earned a backlash and then Salim had to explain how the Bollywood superstar was ‘misinterpreted’. Salman’s Twitter rant about Yakub Memon, which he later retracted after being pulled up by dad is one such example.

Salman Khan welcomed father Salim Khan on Twitter. Salim already has 13,500 followers. (HT photo)

Read: Salman is full of compassion, says dad Salim

With Salim Khan joining Twitter on Tuesday, he can do the firefighting on social media too. Only, for once, Salim himself began by tweeting about a red button topic. With his first tweet, Salim congratulated RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, “Mohan Bhagwat has said we have to create an India so great that people will themselves say Bharat Mata Ki Jai.”

He added, “Salaam Bhagwat Saab! Lot of people say with pride that they haven’t changed. That means they are not growing... change is growth. Bharat Mata Ki Jai. -Luv, Salim Khan.”

Salman Khan retweeted his father’s tweets and also welcomed him to the social media platform.

The RSS chief had stirred a controversy recently with his remark that the younger generation needed to be taught to hail “Bharat Mata”. This was met with a retaliatory statement by AIMIM party chief Asaduddin Owaisi who said he would not chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ as he was not obliged to do it under the Constitution.

Other political parties added to the controversy and the Maharashtra Assembly suspended a legislator from AIMIM after he refused to chant the slogan.

On Monday, Bhagwat said that nobody should be “forced” to say the slogan. “We have to create so great an India that people will themselves say Bharat Mata ki Jai. We don’t need to force it on anybody. We have to give direction to the world with our life. There is no need to force our system and thoughts on anyone; there should be a desire to consider the whole world as ours.”